Loyalty programs are scam. Opt for craftsmanship of hospitality. Boutique hotels superpower!

Loyalty programs are a scam! It’s easy to treat your guests BETTER than luxury brands, big chain hotels. Guests don’t want luxury but QUALITY, RELEVANT to them! And that is the room for your craftsmanship of hospitality.

Boutique hotels have that approach of MASTER IN THE HOUSE.

They can and should develop their own hospitality approach and balance GENUINE CARE and QUALITY with CONSISTENCY and STANDARD PRACTICES.

Luxury is NOT what it used to be. Did you know that 30 years ago, 80% of rich people inherited their wealth while TODAY 70% of upper class is self made? They are spending their money differently.

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Video Transcript:

Hello everyone. Welcome to Remarkable Boutique Hotels where we talk about outstanding experiences and everything that leads to them.

So, what is luxury today and why it’s a word that doesn’t guarantee anything anymore? Calling your hotel luxurious won’t bring you far. So, what will? Loyalty programs? Just kidding. Loyal guests are something you should definitely strive for, but for Gods sake please don’t look at what big chain hotels are doing. You’ll understand why soon. So, let’s dive in.

Luxury used to be a lot about material things only, shiny stuff, exclusivity, power, attention like having a butler or everyone knowing your name, and people liked that feeling of respect, social difference, having an identity of high achievers and so on. And some elements still remain but with wildly changed intentions behind those services. Like it’s not about power anymore and “I will because I can” attitude, today it’s much more about convenience and experience.

So, luxury today is the mindset, mindset, and it is very dependent on person’s values. For example, fur coats and crocodile bags are luxury to some and vulgar to others. Same goes with fast fashion and there is concern for ethically derived materials such as coffee, chocolate, cotton etc. Beside this awareness, what also happened is that some goods became available to mass market so they are commodities now, for example pink salt. So all these aspects will at some point concern you as a hotel owner when making decisions of what to have in your boutique hotel and what to stand for, what idea to support and so on.

Okay first my favourite statistics, did you know that 30 years ago, 80% of rich people inherited their wealth while today 70% of upper class is self made. This is directly where mindset comes in play. These people are thinking differently, they have completely different life experiences and value material things from another perspective. You can’t speak to them in a same way as once was a good branding and marketing strategy, they will not be interested, won’t hear you. So, what can you offer that they actually want?

The answer is in another fun statistics which shows that those people spend less on once typical luxury goods like cars, cloths, jewellery, and what they value are experiences and experience driven goods, services that save them time and make their life easier, more convenient and eventually on education. Those three things, experience driven goods, service that make life easier and education. Sounds like a pretty good grounds for unique boutique hotels with distinguished character and story, which is what we talk about here.

Anyway, there’s that logical point of view that luxury is something we don’t actually need, like we can live without it, but we still do desire. But why am I then going in completely different direction? Because in reality, health, love, time to relax, peace of mind, new experiences that change you as a person, those are luxury things even thought they are just basic needs not wants, but it’s a reality of rushing world today. And this doesn’t even concern how rich someone is, certainly the more money one has, the easier it gets to afford these things but still it’s chaotic life out there especially when you have business and funds to think about, it’s like a small paradox.

So, if your guests are from high society, there’s even stronger reason to provide them with all the luxury of feeling taken care of, at ease, rested, peaceful, someone thinking ahead of them, and that’s because they are highly aware of the value of these things. But, even if your guests are not that influent, luxury, in the terms we talk about it today or we can also call it relevant quality, is still something you want to accommodate for them and the impact will be huge because they don’t find a hotel truly taking care of their needs and wants everywhere.

Just a quick example of what I mean, let’s say a jar of candies and basket of fruit in a studio where you are expecting a family of four is more luxurious then a bottle of some champagne because it’s more relevant, it’s an added value for those guests. Now, of course it varies depending on who your guests are, maybe they would rather have voucher for McDonalds or tickets for kids show while inviting parents to an organised romantic dinner. There are many ways to go, but the point is understanding core of luxury in today’s world, especially what it means for your guests and finding the ways it fits into your hotel’s concept, so it’s easy for you to provide it, instead of complicating your business model. It has to be win-win, otherwise it’s not sustainable success.

You should do your best to be impeccable in craftsmanship of your hospitality. Yes, craftsmanship, because there are no set rules of what hospitality is, you define your hospitality vision and how you want to host your guests so be outstanding at it, provide your guests with many memorable moments and convenient stay filled with ease around everything. And the way you make that happen is your unique hospitality methodology. Only then you should go with common values that you want to fit within that concept, like ethics and sustainability. But do not, and I repeat do not think that is going to sell, don’t market that if it is not meaningfully implemented in your concept. Guests easily read between lines and see that being green is just a marketing strategy in some cases. By the way, it also brings long term reputation damage which you don’t want.

If you still don’t see how all this is a perfect environment for you where big brand hotels can’t compete, observe what’s happening with their loyalty programs and guests complaints on their changing policies and service standards. Their customers have changed significantly because people are not into that generic feeling anymore. Even when some are it’s only because there are not enough boutique hotels that instill trust that they can provide high quality service consistently. Give them good reasons to trust you and show up for them and watch more of them coming back to you.

Big chains even the fanciest ones are still going to be less luxurious because they are industrial in a way. They trap guests with loyalty programs so they end up chasing for the next level or perk without truly enjoying. And more and more, what happens is that they don’t manage to deliver extraordinary experience. I mean if you ask me, they never really did, maybe just few of them.

So, small boutique hotels have opportunity by their nature to be seen as much more luxurious experience because they can afford that artisanal quality, specific and adaptable to guest know-how, the depth of the master in the house luxury model, I’m dead serious, that’s a hell of a superpower you are not using. You just need to shape it, tell a story about it and play it while serving your ideal guests. Okay, maybe it’s not that easy as I make it sound, but when this process is set up correctly it allows easy and creative day to day execution and it’s absolutely worth it.

So, for the end, choose your group of guests wisely. This is not to say there are better and worse guests. But sell to those that you can serve the best, that you have ease understanding, the ones you naturally attract with your own interests presented in your concept. By doing this, your marketing will be cheaper and easier, and your execution will go smoother, it will feel more like pleasure and less like hard work.

And the cherry on top, is that once you get really good in answering your guests needs and wants, the desire movement towards your hotel will be created. People will want to come just because they want to come, they’ll have desire to see your hotel and experience it, to become part of your story, to tell they are your guests too, to belong there. And this is a topic for another video but when this starts to happen and it will if you persist, remember to just keep doing the same job, don’t make a mistake of changing tactics just like many do and obviously the bonus is higher prices.

Okay everyone, so, I think that was just enough for today, don’t forget you have the master in the house, make a full specific experience out of it. Until next occasion, have a beautiful experiences my friends.

Thank you for listening. Here at Remarkable Boutique Hotels, we want your hotel to be worth every penny and every second of your guests. Schedule a discovery call to find more about our remarkable methodology which is unique in the whole hospitality industry. I would love to hear your hotel story. See you there.